The President gave another speech last night and was neither specific, bipartisan, nor particularly believable. He is in the same position he was in before the speech, with lots of reason to wonder whether he knows or cares what is in the bills being bandied about and whether or not he understands that a fundamental overhaul of such a complex structure as our Healthcare system should be done with extreme humility and exquisite sensitivity. I suspect that as he continues to give speeches and as his words lose their resonance, people will increasingly stop hearing what he has to say. He has clearly not learned much from the master politician of our times, though it may be that others have.
Bill Clinton was a wonderful orator. He may not have given a speech as well as Obama but he could speak extemporaneously with the best of them. He was far more skilled than Obama in telling people what they wanted to hear. (Obama's ability to be all things to all people would never have survived a skeptical press.) There are two other very significant differences between Clinton and Obama that are germane. Bill Clinton had executive experience by the time he entered the White House and Bill Clinton was much more ideologically flexible than Barack Obama. If Obama fails it will be primarily because of his lack of experience and his ideological rigidity.
The other Clinton, Hillary, was blindsided by Obama during the campaign. She assumed the nomination was hers and was out fought, out organized, and out thought, by a more astute politician. However, Hillary still has the ear of the best politician of our era, and that is why there is good reason to lend credence to rumors that she might resign from her post at State and run for Governor of New York next year. She has nothing to gain from staying in a flailing administration, whose ideological approach to international affairs is likely to lead to serious problems for American and allied interests. If she resigns to run for New York Governor, it will be a clear sign that the smart money in the Democratic party is losing confidence in their standard bearer.
I will refrain from the obvious metaphor of sinking ships and those who flee them.
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